9 Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and the unjust speech,
And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.
And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you; and ye shall seek me and find me, for ye shall search for me with all your heart,
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and his ears are toward their cry; The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cutoff the remembrance of them from the earth: [The righteous] cry, and Jehovah heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God, and whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight.
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams: they comfort in vain. Therefore they have gone away as a flock, they are in distress, because there is no shepherd.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye speak vanity, and have seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips speak lies, your tongue muttereth unrighteousness: none calleth for justice, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity, and speak falsehood; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Is not this the fast which I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke?
For the people shall dwell in Zion, at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more; he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; as he heareth it, he will answer thee.
I called upon Jah in distress; Jah answered me [and set me] in a large place.
that Jehovah called to Samuel. And he said, Here am I. And he ran to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I did not call: lie down again. And he went and lay down. And Jehovah called again, Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I did not call, my son: lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither had the word of Jehovah yet been revealed to him. And Jehovah called again the third time, Samuel! And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that Jehovah was calling the boy.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 58
Commentary on Isaiah 58 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 58
Isa 58:1-14. Reproof of the Jews for Their Dependence on Mere Outward Forms of Worship.
1. aloud—Hebrew, "with the throat," that is, with full voice, not merely from the lips (1Sa 1:13). Speak loud enough to arrest attention.
my people—the Jews in Isaiah's time, and again in the time of our Lord, more zealous for externals than for inward holiness. Rosenmuller thinks the reference to be to the Jews in the captivity practising their rites to gain God's favor and a release; and that hence, sacrifices are not mentioned, but only fasting and Sabbath observance, which they could keep though far away from the temple in Jerusalem. The same also applies to their present dispersion, in which they cannot offer sacrifices, but can only show their zeal in fastings, &c. Compare as to our Lord's time, Mt 6:16, 23; Lu 18:12.
2. Put the stop at "ways"; and connect "as a nation that," &c. with what follows; "As a nation that did righteousness," thus answers to, "they ask of Me just judgments" (that is, as a matter of justice due to them, salvation to themselves, and destruction to their enemies); and "forsook not the ordinance of their God," answers to "they desire the drawing near of God" (that God would draw near to exercise those "just judgments" in behalf of them, and against their enemies) [Maurer]. So Jerome, "In the confidence, as it were, of a good conscience, they demand a just judgment, in the language of the saints: Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity." So in Mal 2:17, they affect to be scandalized at the impunity of the wicked, and impugn God's justice [Horsley]. Thus, "seek Me daily, and desire (English Version not so well, 'delight') to know My ways," refers to their requiring to know why God delayed so long in helping them. English Version gives a good, though different sense; namely, dispelling the delusion that God would be satisfied with outward observances, while the spirit of the law, was violated and the heart unchanged (Isa 58:3-14; Eze 33:31, 32; compare Joh 18:28), scrupulosity side by side with murder. The prophets were the commentators on the law, as their Magna Charta, in its inward spirit and not the mere letter.
3. Wherefore—the words of the Jews: "Why is it that, when we fast, Thou dost not notice it" (by delivering us)? They think to lay God under obligation to their fasting (Ps 73:13; Mal 3:14).
afflicted … soul—(Le 16:29).
Behold—God's reply.
pleasure—in antithesis to their boast of having "afflicted their soul"; it was only in outward show they really enjoyed themselves. Gesenius not so well translates, "business."
exact … labours—rather, "oppressive labors" [Maurer]. Horsley, with Vulgate, translates, "Exact the whole upon your debtors"; those who owe you labor (Ne 5:1-5, 8-10, &c.).
4. ye shall not fast—rather, "ye do not fast at this time, so as to make your voice to be heard on high," that is, in heaven; your aim in fasting is strife, not to gain the ear of God [Maurer] (1Ki 21:9, 12, 13). In English Version the sense is, If you wish acceptance with God, ye must not fast as ye now do, to make your voice heard high in strife.
5. for a man to afflict his soul—The pain felt by abstinence is not the end to be sought, as if it were meritorious; it is of value only in so far as it leads us to amend our ways (Isa 58:6, 7).
bow … head … sackcloth—to affect the outward tokens, so as to "appear to men to fast" (Mt 6:17, 18; 1Ki 21:27; Es 4:3).
6. loose … bands of wickedness—that is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow men (Le 25:49, &c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.
undo … heavy burdens—Hebrew, "loose the bands of the yoke."
oppressed—literally, "the broken." The expression, "to let go free," implies that those "broken" with the yoke of slavery, are meant (Ne 5:10-12; Jer 34:9-11, 14, 16). Jerome interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.
7. deal—distribute (Job 31:16-21).
cast out—rather, reduced [Horsley].
naked … cover him—(Mt 25:36).
hide … thyself—means to be strange towards them, and not to relieve them in their poverty (Mt 15:5).
flesh—kindred (Ge 29:14). Also brethren in common descent from Adam, and brethren in Christ (Jas 2:15).
8. light—emblem of prosperity (Isa 58:10; Job 11:17).
health—literally, a long bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare Isa 1:6). Hence restoration from all past calamities.
go before thee—Thy conformity to the divine covenant acts as a leader, conducting thee to peace and prosperity.
glory … reward—like the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's "glory," which went behind Israel, separating them from their Egyptian pursuers (Isa 52:12; Ex 14:19, 20).
9. Then … call … answer—when sin is renounced (Isa 65:24). When the Lord's call is not hearkened to, He will not hear our "call" (Ps 66:18; Pr 1:24, 28; 15:29; 28:9).
putting forth of … finger—the finger of scorn pointed at simple-minded godly men. The middle finger was so used by the Romans.
speaking vanity—every injurious speech [Lowth].
10. draw out thy soul—"impart of thine own subsistence," or "sustenance" [Horsley]. "Soul" is figurative for "that wherewith thou sustainest thy soul," or "life."
light … in obscurity—Calamities shall be suddenly succeeded by prosperity (Ps 112:4).
11. satisfy … in drought—(Isa 41:17, 18). Literally, "drought," that is, parched places [Maurer].
make fat—rather, "strengthen" [Noyes]. "Give thee the free use of thy bones" [Jerome], or, "of thy strength" [Horsley].
watered garden—an Oriental picture of happiness.
fail not—Hebrew, "deceive not"; as streams that disappoint the caravan which had expected to find water, as formerly, but find it dried up (Job 6:15-17).
12. they … of thee—thy people, the Israelites.
old waste places—the old ruins of Jerusalem (Isa 61:4; Eze 36:33-36).
foundations of many generations—that is, the buildings which had lain in ruins, even to their foundations, for many ages; called in the parallel passage (Isa 61:4), "the former desolations"; and in the preceding clause here, "the old waste places." The literal and spiritual restoration of Israel is meant, which shall produce like blessed results on the Gentile world (Am 9:11, 12; Ac 15:16, 17).
be called—appropriately: the name truly designating what thou shalt do.
breach—the calamity wherewith God visited Israel for their sin (Isa 30:26; 1Ch 15:13).
paths to dwell in—not that the paths were to be dwelt in, but the paths leading to their dwellings were to be restored; "paths, so as to dwell in the land" [Maurer].
13. (Isa 56:2; Ne 13:15-22). The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory (Isa 66:23).
foot—the instrument of motion (compare Pr 4:27); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath (Ac 1:12). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own ways and "doing thy pleasure," &c. (Ex 20:10, 11).
my holy day—God claims it as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of His own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken; it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual "delight."
holy of the Lord—not the predicate, but the subject; "if thou call the holy (day) of Jehovah honorable"; if thou treat it as a day to be honored.
him—or else, it, the Sabbath.
not doing … own way—answering to, "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath."
nor finding … pleasure—answering to, "doing thy pleasure." "To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses; to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, when the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keep it in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil's holiday" [Bishop Andrewes].
nor speaking … words—answering to, "call Sabbath a delight … honorable." Man's "own words" would "call" it a "weariness"; it is the spiritual nature given from above which "calls it a delight" (Am 8:5; Mal 1:13).
14. delight … in … Lord—God rewards in kind, as He punishes in kind. As we "delight" in keeping God's "Sabbath," so God will give us "delight" in Himself (Ge 15:1; Job 22:21-26; Ps 37:4).
ride upon … high places—I will make thee supreme lord of the land; the phrase is taken from a conqueror riding in his chariot, and occupying the hills and fastnesses of a country [Vitringa], (De 32:13; Mic 1:3; Hab 3:19). Judea was a land of hills; the idea thus is, "I will restore thee to thine own land" [Calvin]. The parallel words, "heritage of Jacob," confirm this (Ge 27:28, 29; 28:13-15).
mouth of … Lord … spoken it—a formula to assure men of the fulfilment of any solemn promise which God has made (Isa 40:5).